


Brave in Bronze

by whitebeltwriter



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Amity is her usual disaster self, Ed and Em are good sibs, F/F, Fluff, Hair Dyeing, Luz has a turn being a disaster, Mrs Blight can suck it, Post–Season 1, hair cuts, sheer fluff, so this is apparently becoming "a thing"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:21:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26314084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitebeltwriter/pseuds/whitebeltwriter
Summary: Amity has been stuck under the will of her parents for too long. Slowly and surely she's beginning to resist them, to be brave.And what better show of bravery than to just be herself.AKALilith helps Amity feel more like herself by fixing her hair color.
Relationships: Amity Blight & Edric Blight & Emira Blight, Amity Blight & Lilith Clawthorne, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Lilith Clawthorne, Pre-Relationship - Relationship
Comments: 138
Kudos: 1490





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dana had an "Ask Me Anything" the other day, (I'll post the url in the end notes; lots of good stuff) and two things that popped up were:
> 
> 1\. Lilith changed her hair to be more intimidating  
> 2\. Mrs Blight makes Amity dye her hair so that her children are "color coordinated"
> 
> Naturally, I had to do something with that information and here we are.  
> Enjoy!

It was a beautiful day as Amity made her way towards the Owl House, relishing the lack of a clunky cast on her right foot. She even returned Hooty's gratingly cheerful greeting with a cordial "Good morning" rather than her usual growl.

Opening the door, Amity walked into the living room to find it filled with warmth and laughter. Luz and King were holding their sides, laughing at whatever Eda was holding in her lap. Lilith was as far away from the trio as she could without actually getting up from the couch they all were sharing. She alone noticed Amity’s entrance and raised a hand in greeting.

“Good evening, Amity,” she called drolly. “How are you?”

Amity’s reply was drowned out by Luz’s cry of “Amity!” as she leapt up from the couch to sweep the teal-haired witchling into a hug.

“What are you doing here?” Luz asked when she finally returned Amity to the ground.

“I-um,” Amity coughed to try and regain what little sense of decorum she had when around the human. “I was just, you know, in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop by for a visit. Here. Where you live... Un-unless you’re busy that is-”

“Nonsense!” Luz assured her. “I’m never too busy for you!” She dragged the now gurgling and red-faced witchling over to the couch and sat her down right next to where Luz had been before. “Eda was just showing us some pictures from back when she went to Hexside!”

“Hmph, more like she’s trying to kill me over how embarrassing I looked,” Lilith mumbled, only half grumpily. It’d been several weeks since the ex-Coven Leader had been forced to choose either her Emperor or her sister and had,  _ very publicly _ , gone with the latter. Things had been tense in the beginning- between the cursing and the use of Luz as a literal human shield -but eventually Lilith had begun to find her place within the Owl House. She had even started to enjoy the chaotic atmosphere, but at the moment would swallow her own tongue before admitting so.

“Oh I’m sure they’re not-  _ wow,” _ Amity mumbled, having caught sight of one of the pictures. “-that is  _ a lot _ of hair.”

“Yup, the Clawthorne Mane does  _ not  _ skip generations,” Eda bragged, tossing her own silvery locks.

“I didn’t know you were a redhead like Eda,” Luz added.

“I was,” Lilith admitted with a small smile. “Used to love it, too.”

“So why change?” Amity asked.

“A few years after I joined the Coven I realized I wasn’t being taken as seriously as I would have liked,” Lilith shrugged. “So I straightened it, changed it to this and even got my eyes spelled so I could lose the glasses. Annoyingly enough, it did the trick.” She pouted, mildly irritated it required her to change her own appearance in order to gain the respect she needed to climb the coven’s ranks.

“Whoa!” Luz gasped, wide-eyed, while Amity kept looking at the photo in thought. “There are spells that can change your appearance like that without it being an illusion?!”

“There are, but I prefer a more–” she waved her hand as she thought of the best description, “–I guess you could say,  _ physical _ , method. I mix up a brew and work it in by hand. I find the effects last longer and look more ‘authentic’.”

Eda gave a low whistle of appreciation. “You do that yourself? Not bad, sis. Here I was thinking you went to some high class hoity-toity salon,” she smirked.

“And run the risk of all the Isles learning the lengths I go to to remain intimidating?” Lilith quirked an eyebrow. “Pass.”

“Intimidating? You? Ha!” Eda mocked causing Lilith’s eyebrow to twitch.

“I’ll have you know that my visage has struck fear into the hearts of many…” the elder Clawthorne’s rant dwindled as it occurred to her that all of her arrests were done on the orders of the Emperor, who she now realized was nothing more than a corrupted old man. How many had she captured on his behalf that were actually undeserving of punishment? How much suffering had she caused beyond what she’d done to her own flesh and blood?

As if sensing the route her mind had started to go down, Luz piped up with a new question.

“So! Since you no longer have any particular reason to be intimidating, are you going to go back to how you looked before?” she asked with wide eyes, as if excited to see what amounted to a bush atop Lilith’s head.

Lilith blinked at the young human, startled back out of her own head at her inquisitive nature. She smiled ever so softly, quietly appreciating what the child was trying to do.

“Well, to be honest the color has kind of grown on me–”

“Kinda like that gray-streak you’re now rocking?” Eda sniggered.

“Hush you,” Lilith glared at her sister for a moment before returning to Luz. “But since you’ve mentioned it, I might let my curls come back. Straightening it all is too much of a hassle anyway.”

The conversation evolved from there into a debate on whose hair had had the most admirer’s back in school, the sisters tossing quips and jests back and forth from their respective ends of the couch like there wasn’t decades of distance between them. Through it all, no one noticed one witchling moving her gaze from the eldest witch to her old photo and back again, her hand twirling the ends of her hair deep in thought.

* * *

The next morning, Lilith was once again seated on the couch, trying to get lost in a book when Hooty banged open to say that there was a visitor.

The witch looked up to find Amity at the threshold of the Owl House, looking nervous but determined even as she fiddled with the strap of her small bag.

“Good morning, Amity,” Lilith greeted bemusedly. “If you’re looking for the hu- for  _ Luz,  _ I’m afraid she, King and my sister left to go run the stand in the market.  _ Against _ my advice, I might add,” she grumbled to herself.

“No, tha-that’s fine,” the teal-haired witchling began before clearing her throat and standing as straight as her small frame would allow. “I’m actually here to see you.” Lilith blinked at that. She was here to see her?

“Oh. Um... alright,” she closed her book and placed it on the table before the couch. “What can I help you with?”

“I…” Amity gulped. She had rehearsed what she was going to say the entire walk over, but now that the moment had arrived she found the words threatening to get stuck in her throat. Swallowing them back into place, she braced herself and let them loose.

“I was wondering if-if you could help me. With my hair. Please.”

“Wha- your hair?” The witch chuckled awkwardly; surely she was kidding? “Why? It looks fine to me. Plus, couldn’t you just use one of the salons in town; no doubt your mother is well acquainted with them.” Lilith rolled her eyes; Karen had always been very ‘meticulous’ with her appearance, even back when they were in school. It wasn’t a surprise to the witch that her youngest daughter might follow the same path, but the flinch Amity gave at the very mention of her mother did not go unnoticed.

“No, no I can’t go to a salon. Mother-” she looked down and away, as if annoyed, though with who would be anyone’s guess. “–Mother gave them all  _ very _ strict instructions on what they were and were not to do with my hair.”

“Well that certainly sounds like Karen,” Lilith scoffed, brow rising lazily. “What is it that you even want to do?” Amity swallowed again, but her spine grew visibly straighter.

“I want it brown; like it should be,” she indicated her obvious roots, “–and I was hoping you could help me make that happen. Since, you know, you have experience with that and stuff.”

“You just want to be a brunette?” Lilith was surprised; which apparently was the theme of the morning. In all the time she had known the youngest Blight (which admittedly wasn’t very long) the girl had always had the same shade of green atop her head. She’d noticed the roots, and while she had been surprised Karen would allow her daughter to flaunt them so readily, she’d assumed it was just typical teenage fashion.

“I want to be  _ myself _ ,” Amity declared, meeting Lilith’s eyes and clenching the strap of her bag so hard her knuckles turned white. “I want to be able to-to look in the mirror and see  _ me, _ not some little girl who lets her mother dye her hair so that all of her children are ‘color coordinated’! I want to be me!” Her gaze dropped back down to the floor. “I want to be enough… but not at the cost of myself… not anymore...”

The silence stretched on thickly for several moments; Lilith staring at Amity and Amity determinedly staring at the floor as if it had all the answers she needed.

“Hoot- your mom sounds like a dumb fart,” Hooty cheerfully chimed in. Amity’s head snapped up at him in pure disbelief; no one  _ ever _ dared to speak that badly of Karen Blight, even when she wasn’t there to hear.

“That may just be the smartest thing you’ve said all week,” Lilith remarked as she rose gracefully from the couch. “Come along, Amity,” she called as she began walking deeper into the house.

“Uh-wha?” Amity meekly replied, the last five seconds giving the poor witchling whiplash with how fast the conversation had changed. 

Lilith paused in the doorway out of the living and looked back over one shoulder with a light smile.

“We need to see what ingredients Edalyn has in stock– right after we figure out exactly what ‘system’ she’s using this decade –and make a list for anything we might need to pick up from the market. If we hurry we should be able to hit Sal up before they close for the day. Their hours of operation aren't exactly  _ rigid, _ but they have the best stock for this kind of thing.”

Amity gaped at the doorway for a few moments after Lilith vanished from view. She’d hoped for the best but had been prepared for the worst. It took the elder witch’s distant question of “You coming?” to snap her out of her stupor. “I’m coming!” Amity called back with a shaky grin, darting off after her as Hooty gently closed behind the witchling with a happy hoot.

Miraculously enough, it turned out that the storeroom of the Owl House had everything they needed and more to get the job done.  _ Granted _ it still took time to track everything down; Eda’s system was apparently to sort things from least to most dangerous from one end of the room to the other, but both ends looked fairly the same and her idea of what constituted as “dangerous” was as loose as a triple-x hoodie on a pixie.

Eventually they had everything they needed (plus a few singe marks on Lilith’s dress that Eda  _ would _ be paying for later) the duo made their way up to the surprisingly spacious second floor bathroom to get set up. In short order Amity was wearing an old, but blessedly clean, bathrobe and leaning backwards into the sink so Lilith could wash her hair while she sat upon a stool. The witch started slowly– it had been decades since she’d washed another person’s hair and that had been Eda when they were both tiny witchlings –but eventually it all came back to her and she soon made short work of shampooing and conditioning the young Blight’s hair.

Amity, for her part, was trying her best not to murmur happily and further embarrass herself. Up until now the people who had dealt with her hair had been... _ clinical _ in their work. They were efficient, no doubt, but there was something in their movements that put the witchling on edge, though that may have been a result of her displeasure of her hair being forcefully dyed. Lilith’s hands, however rusty, were...different. She couldn’t put her finger on  _ how, _ exactly, but where previous hairstylists were aloof and cold in all ways except literal, the older witch’s hands were carefully warm and almost kind.

The witchling had to bite her lip at one point to keep from tearing up. She  _ would not _ get emotional over having someone wash her hair with so much as an ounce of kindness. She  _ refused. _

Before she knew it, Lilith had whipped up a bowl of gunk– which she had spent quite a bit of time hemming and hawing over, nearly glaring at Amity’s roots; mumbling to herself something about ratios and highlights –and began applying it methodically to the witchling’s head, section by section.

While they waited for the color to set, they had a small “adventure” trying to keep Hooty– who had popped in through the window to say hello –from eating the leftover hair dye.

“But it’s dirt colored, hoot!”

“Okay, one! Just because it’s ‘dirt colored’ does not mean it’s dirt!” Lilith growled as she held Hooty’s face back with one hand and the bowl in the other. “And two;  _ why are you eating dirt?!  _ Amity! Amity could you _please_ stop laughing and HELP ME! If I poison her house demon Eda may  _ actually _ kill me.”

“Hoo-Hooty,” Amity laughed, tears close to streaming down her face at the sight of the witch struggling with the bird tube. It _truly_ was a sight to behold. “It’s not- it’s not for eating. It’s for dyeing–”

“Dying?! Hoot?! Amity,  _ no– _ I’ll save you!”

“Wait, Hooty, no not that kind of dying!”

“BATTLE HOOT!”

“HOOTY NO!”

* * *

Between the two of them– and the sheer luck of the window restricting a good portion of his movement –Lilith and Amity were able to kick Hooty out of the bathroom long enough to explain that no, Lilith wasn’t trying to kill anyone (though Hooty was  _ dangerously _ close to changing that) and  _ no _ , Amity was not dying. With the crisis (mostly) averted, time was up and Lilith set about rinsing Amity’s hair and blowing it dry. Soon she spun the witchling around to face the mirror and see the results of her work.

Amity gazed wide-eyed at a witchling she hadn’t seen since she was a child. Her hair was still out of its usual half-up ponytail, but the bronze locks were just as she remembered them. She beamed at herself and saw her reflection begin to get teary-eyed, but if Lilith noticed she didn’t comment. Instead she had her chin resting in her hand as she surveyed her work with a critical eye.

“Did I get the shade right? I feel like it could have gone a hair darker…” she winced and buried her face in her hand. “ _ Ugh, _ I’ve been hanging out with that human for too long...”

“It’s perfect,” Amity declared, spinning around on her stool to look at Lilith directly.  _ “Thank you.”  _ The witch heard every single unspoken feeling hiding between those two small words and smiled softly down at the newly brunette witchling.

“You’re welcome, Amity.”

The warm moment was shattered rudely by Eda stomping nonchalantly up the stairs and into the bathroom.

“Lily! You wanna explain why Hooty now has tiger-shark stripes for about fifteen feet of him?”

“It’s not my fault!” Lilith argued, arms crossed defensively.  _ “Your _ demon tried to eat a bowl of hair dye! And given that his stomach is somewhere in the house I didn’t think it was wise to let him do so and risk an upset stomach!”

“Hair dye?” Eda asked, as she stepped fully into the room, finally catching sight of Amity. “What did you need-  _ whoa. _ Nice hair, Blight. Finally decided to quit the two-tone hair-do, I see.”

“Yes,” Amity blushed, sitting up straight. “I decided I wanted to be more natural and not like one of my mother's dolls.”

“Mother’s dolls?” Eda asked, confused. After glancing at Amity for permission real quick, Lilith casually explained after receiving the witchling’s nod.

“Apparently Mrs. Blight decided her children should have matching hair and forced Amity to dye hers against her wishes. Which, given how she was back at school, should not surprise me as much as it does.”

“Back at school? We went to school with short-stuff’s mom?” the Owl Lady asked, smirking at Amity’s indignant  _ “Hey!” _

“Yes, Eda, we did,” Lilith answered rolling her eyes. “Her name was Karen Hemmlocke back then, remember? She married Rudolf Blight a few years after–”

“Hemmlocke!” Eda snarled, cutting off her sister.  _ “Ooh, _ that no good, dirty rotten, daughter of a–”

_ “Language! _ There are  _ children _ present!”

“She went toe-to-toe with Grom, she can handle a few bad words,” Eda waved off Lilith’s exclamation before returning her rant. “But that prissy, little, uptight–”

“Eda!”

“–got me into more trouble than anyone else at Hexside!”

“You mean she caught you  _ causing _ trouble,” Lilith smirked. “I seem to recall you were perfectly capable of starting trouble all by yourself.”

“Yeah, and I was good at it too,” Eda gloated momentarily, “But then  _ she’d  _ swoop in and rat me out to Bump!  _ After _ I made perfectly good getaways too!”

“If she caught you, then technically they weren’t perfect getaways,” Lilith drawled.

“My point still stands!” the Owl Lady growled. “Karen  _ whatever-her-name-is _ stinks worse than the foul end of a trash slug!”

“Uhhhh,” Amity called out meekly, reminding the two sisters of her presence. “Does-does that mean I’m not allowed to be here?” She looked like she was about to cry, but stubbornly refused to.

“Wha? Don’t be silly, kid; you’re welcome here any time you’d like,” Eda assured the witchling.

“Eda,” Lilith beamed at her sister, “That’s very big of you. I’m proud you're not letting old grudges–”

“What better way to get back at  _ Karen _ than by corrupting her precious baby daughter,” Eda cackled gleefully.

_ “Annnnd _ just like that, the pride is gone,” Lilith groaned, massaging her temple. “If we could get back to the issue at hand,  _ dear sister; _ how does Amity’s hair look? Does it seem even? I’ve never dyed another witch’s hair before.”

“Hm? Oh,” Eda walked over for a closer look, moving around Amity in a half circle until the witchling was between her and the door. “Looks fine to me, but the kid has better eyes than I do when it comes to artsy stuff. HEY LUZ!” She yelled, causing Amity and Lilith to flinch at her volume, “COME UP HERE A SEC; WE NEED YOUR EYES!”

“I really hope you mean metaphorically!” Luz called back as she jogged upstairs to them. “By the way, Hooty’s found out his new stripes make him harder to see in the trees. I mean, you can still see where he’s connected to the house, but the rest…of...him…” Luz’s voice died out as she caught sight of Amity still sitting on the stool.

“Luz, we need your opinion,” Eda began.

“How does Amity look?” Lilith nonchalantly finished.

Luz kept staring silently for so long it began to become awkward. In all the time she'd know her Eda had never known the kid to be this quiet for this long unless she was literally asleep, and sometimes not even then.

Poor thing was stunned; she'd never seen Amity with her hair down before, never mind with it all a lovely shade of warm brown that gleamed like fiery bronze in the evening light.

“Luz!” Eda growled impatiently.

“ _Huh_ -wha, yeah?” the human shook her head to refocus.

“How does Baby Blight look?” the Owl Lady asked, ignoring Amity’s glare at being called ‘Baby Blight’.

“I think she looks pretty girl,” Luz answered distractedly before her face darkened dramatically and she began backtracking.  _ “Pretty good! _ Pretty Good! Yup, looks good, real good! Well I-ow,” she backed up straight into the door frame, waving it off, “I’d better go check on King and make sure-make sure that....that he’s still King! Yup! Okay- _ adiós!” _ Luz turned out of sight and seconds later they heard a series of bumps and crashes followed by mutterings in another language before the human called back, “I’m okay!”

The three witches stared at the open door silently for a few moments: one full of glee, one confused, and one turning darker than her own hair.

“Well,” Eda began, just  _ barely _ containing her laughter, “I’d say you did a good job sis. So–  _ he he  _ –so good, in fact, that you think you may have–  _ pft _ –broken Luz!” Lilith looked back and forth between Eda, Amity and the door several times in confusion before comprehension dawned on her face.

“ _Ah_. Well… that’s going to make things more interesting around here,” Lilith mumbled thoughtfully, “Which is rather impressive, given how chaotic this place usually is.”

“And that, my dear sister, is the beauty of the Owl House,” Eda preened, before nodding at a still-seated Amity. “By the way, I think my kid made your kid pass out.”

“What, she’s not my- AMITY!” Lilith cried, just barely catching the witchling before she face-planted onto the floor.

“Pretty...she said pretty….pretty…” she gurgled nonsensically as Lilith tried to gently shake her back to her senses. Eda just laughed at the whole thing.

“Yup! Things  _ definitely _ just got a whole lot more interesting around here!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I have Lilith prefer to use "physical" methods of dyeing her hair just because I know she currently can't use magic well? Yes, yes I did.
> 
> 10pts to whomever spots the Atlantis reference.
> 
> https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOwlHouse/comments/ill21i/hooty_hooty_im_dana_terrace_creator_and_ep_of_the/


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Consequences were inevitable, but Amity never could have imagined the effects of her changing her hair was this.

Amity’s parents were both out by the time she got home and the twins were out titan knows where, so no one in Blight Manor got a good look at the witchling’s hair until breakfast the next morning.

Karen Blight noticed her youngest’s change in appearance the moment she walked into the dining hall, her grip on her fork tightening incrementally. But before she had a chance to comment, her oldest beat her to it.

“Whoa, Mittens! You look different today!” Emira grinned, eyeing her sister’s new color.

“Yeah, did you get a new shirt? Perhaps some new leggings?” Edric joked.

“Might want to get your eyes checked, Ed. I’m worried you’re losing your sense of color,” Amity jabbed right back as she began to eat. “Bold choice wearing that shirt with those pants.”

“Wha- they’re not–”

“Ha! She made you look Ed!” Emira chuckled before turning back to Amity. “Someone’s in rare form this morning. Something good happen yesterday? Care to share?”

“Yes, Amity,” Karen stated from her seat, immediately putting a stop to the gentle ribbing of her children. “Please explain to all of us what happened to your hair. You don’t even have it tied up today.”

Amity clenched her fist under the table to keep from reflexively reaching up and fiddling with her hair. She’d worn her hair half up for as long as she could remember, but after dyeing it back to brown yesterday, she decided she would take it just one step further and keep it down for a while. She’d never noticed how much it had pulled at her head until she left it alone.

“I just felt like a change, Mother,” she answered calmly, belying her actual nerves, “That’s all.”

“Oh, but sweetheart,” her mother purred, “I just loved the shade it was before; such a charming mint green. Won’t you change it back for me?”

“Thank you, Mother, but I rather like it the way it is now,” Amity replied, even daring to meet her mother’s stare. 

“Same here,” Edric piped up in his sister’s defense.

“Yeah, it looks just like Father’s!” Emira added.

“Mhm,” Mr. Blight hummed noncommittally as he browsed the morning paper; he knew better than to get in his wife’s way and he suspected that things were about to take a turn.

“Amity, dear,” Karen smiled without a hint of warmth, “Wouldn’t you rather look like your siblings? The three of you looked so well all together in green! And you really did look so much better with green hair, don’t you think?” Amity had to take a deep breath to keep from snarling a response back at her mother. Doing so  _ would not _ be wise.

“As a matter of fact,  _ Mother _ , I’d rather look like myself. If that’s alright with you,” she replied defiantly, her last words clearly rhetorical.

“Young lady,” the matriarch very nearly growled as she slowly stood from her seat. Sensing the direction things were headed– and decidedly  _ not _ liking it –the twins jumped up in tandem and were at their sister’s side in an instant.

“You’re right, Mother,” Emira cooed as she coaxed Amity up and out of her chair.

“Appearances are  _ very  _ important!” Edric began ushering them both out the door, shushing Amity when she tried to protest.

“So we’ll just go and take care of Mittens for you!”

“After all you do have that important meeting soon! Wouldn’t want to miss that!”

Annoyance flickered through Karen’s eyes before she sighed and smiled with a cold charm at her eldest children. “Thank you so much: Emira, Edric. I’ll trust the two of you will see to it that Amity’s hair matches as it should.”

“Don’t worry, Mother,” Emira gritted out with a tense smile.

“It’ll match alright,” Edric finished faux-cheerily, finally succeeding in getting both of his sisters out of the room and into the hall. The second the door was closed behind the trio, Em and Ed all but dragged through the Manor and out the back door. They had a feeling they couldn’t afford their parents to walk into their conversation as they left for the day.

They all made their way to a large tree in their backyard with a bench nestled beneath it, wordlessly sitting Amity down upon it.

“I’m not changing it!” Amity growled. “You can’t make me!”

“Mittens calm down a sec, okay,” Emira tried to soothe her. “We just want a chance to talk, that’s all.” Her sister glared back at her but didn’t try to speak again. Edric moved in front of Amity and kneeled down in front of her, gently holding her shoulders so that she would focus on him.

“Amity,” the use of her name caused the witchling to blink. Her brother was rarely ever this serious. “I’m going to ask you a question and I need you to be honest with us. Okay?”

Amity bit her lip, suddenly nervous as her eyes darted between her siblings, but she nodded nonetheless.

“Okay… Did–” Edric paused and looked at Em for support before steeling himself and pushing on. “Did Mother  _ make you _ dye your hair?” He could feel her little shoulders tensing before she tilted her head to the ground and nodded, almost as if she was ashamed that she had had to listen to her own mother.

“Why?” Emira asked.

Amity’s voice was smaller than her as she answered, “...she...she wanted us to be a matching set...”

The twins sharply inhaled and made eye contact with each other, a thousand words travelling between them silently. They clearly remembered the day Amity suddenly came home with bright green hair, but they had been young and painfully naive; they’d thought she’d simply wanted to copy them, as a way to prove herself their equal in some strange way.

It never once occurred to them…

“Alright, that settles it then!” Edric cheered as he hopped back up on to his feet.

“Huh?” Amity blinked confusedly.

“Indeed it does, brother dear!” Emira agreed, grinning maniacally. Their poor baby sister’s head was nearly spinning from the rapid change of tone the conversation had taken.

“Wait- what’s settled?” Amity asked, shaking off her mild stupor.

“We’ll explain on the way, Mittens!” Edric replied, holding out a hand to help her up off the bench, “But first things first–”

Emira grinned, looping her arm through Amity’s as Edric did the same on her other side.

“–You simply  _ must _ tell us who did your hair such a lovely shade!”

* * *

Lilith was once again trying to get lost in her book when she heard Hooty talking to someone outside. She sighed, knowing that Eda, King and Luz were already inside and so whoever was here was another visitor.

“I’m never going to finish this book at this rate,” she grumbled, grabbing her bookmark in case she needed it. Through the thick planks of Hooty’s door, Lilith could just barely make out what was being said.

“Hoot hoot- password please!”

“ _ Hmmmm _ , camembert?” a surprisingly male voice answered.

“Hoot, nope!”

“Amethyst?”

“Gue~ss ag~ain~!”

“Supercalifragil–”

“Edric!” A new voice cut in, this one a female. “Just because he asks for a password doesn’t mean you need to try and guess it!”

“That’s not it either, hoot!”

“Open up, bird tube and maybe you’ll get some new stripes.” Lilith perked up at the latest voice; it sounded like-

“Hooray! More camouflage!” Hooty cheered as he opened the door to reveal all three of the Blight children; Emira and Amity softly glaring at the door while Edric pouted at his game being stopped.

“Hello you two, and welcome back Amity,” Lilith called from her spot on the couch. “I’m happy to see you’ve recovered from your last visit,” she couldn’t help but smirk. The witchling predictably blushed and gurgled slightly at the reminder.

“Hi Miss Lilith!” Emira said cheerfully.

“How goes being as wanted by the Emperor as the Owl Lady?” Edric perked up beside his sisters and gave a wave as well.

“ _ Ha– _ She wishes!” Eda’s disembodied voice called from deeper in the house.

Lilith glared in her direction and called back, “I’ve only just started being an outlaw! Just you wait Eda, one day my bounty will be higher than–  _ wait _ , what am I saying?!” She grumbled and rubbed her forehead. She’d been living in this madhouse for too long… Shaking herself back to the conversation at hand she responded to Edric, “It’s going about as well as can be. Now, is there something I can help you three with?”

“As a matter of fact~” Emira started.

“~There is!” Edric finished.

“You see, mother dearest caught sight of dear little Mittens’ hair,” Emira ruffled the hair in question, causing Amity to growl at her actions.

“And was  _ less _ than pleased with how it looked,” Edric pouted as Lilith felt her back straighten. The witch could not care less what Karen thought, but the idea of her forcing her child to do something she very clearly did not want to do made her skin itch. 

“Was she now?” Lilith responded coolly. She took a calming breath, even as her hand snapped her book closed with a sound that echoed more than it should have in the space they were in. It would not do to jump to conclusions just yet; that was more Edalyn’s style than hers. She would wait and see exactly what the elder Blights were after and deal with it as it came.

“Oh yes.  _ Apparently,” _ Emira continued with a grin that was beginning to resemble more of a sneer, “Mother has been making Mittens dye her hair so that the three of us could be a ‘matching set’.”

“So I’ve heard,” Lilith calmly put her book down and rose to her full height. “And what, pray tell, does she expect you two to do about it?” Nonchalantly she raised her hand slightly and tensed hard enough that her knuckles cracked all by themselves.

Unperturbed– and actually slightly pleased –by the obviously protective display, the twins grinned as they drew Amity into a hug between the two of them.

“We told Mother we would make sure the three of us matched again!” the brother began.

“But we never specifically said how~!” Emira sing-songed.

“And personally I think I’d looked rather dashing as a brunet!” Edric quipped, smirking as roguishly as he could; which, admittedly, was not as much as he thought.

Lilith blinked bemusedly.

“Wait...you two...want me to do your hair as well?”

“Of course!”

“Mittens has spent so long trying to match us–”

“–Would you please stop calling me Mittens in front of people,” Amity grumbled softly, though her heart wasn’t in it as much as it normally would.

“–It’s our turn to try and match her!”

Lilith let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. After several seconds of looking each Blight in the eye: the twins still grinning like maniacs even while a glint in their eyes revealed how they truly felt about the situation with their mother; and Amity’s small but genuine smile at her sibling’s surprisingly steadfast support.

_ Looks like I can actually do some good after all, _ Lilith thought to herself before clapping her hands together enthusiastically.

“All right then! If we’re doing this then we’d better get started! Edalyn! I need to borrow more–”

“Way ahead of you sis,” Eda called out as she passed by the living room, her arms filled with a variety of ingredients.

“Wha– how did you know–”

“Twin One and Twin Two coming to the Owl House the day after you dye Amity’s hair and going on about how much their mother hated it and wanted them to match? Yeah, no, I saw this coming a mile away!” Eda smirked. “I’m wise like that!”

Lilith was about to argue when she realized that Eda had all of the exact ingredients she needed to change the twins’ hair. “Wait, how did you remember what I used on Amity?”

Eda shrugged, “Easy, I just grabbed everything that I saw you had out on the bathroom sink yesterday, plus whatever else I smelled in the bowl you used.”

“That’s…actually rather impressive.”

“You weren’t the only Clawthorne in Potions,” the Owl Lady teased before making her way upstairs. “Now hop to it, sis! We got more of Karen’s kids to corrupt!”

_ “There _ it is,” Lilith commented, though she smiled while she did. She turned back to the Blights. “Come on you two, let’s get started. Amity, if you would rather hang out with Luz I think she’s in her room writing something called ‘fanfiction’ with King.”

“Oooh, an impromptu date with Luz!” Emira teased, bumping Amity’s shoulder.

“This is just a great week for you, ‘ey Mittens?”

Amity could only mumble a thank you to Lilith– and what  _ may _ have been minor curses at her siblings – moving stiffly making her way up to Luz’s room.

“Okay, okay,” Lilith said, calling the twin’s attentions back to her. “You can tease your sister later–”

_ “LILITH!” _ Amity yelled embarrassed from halfway up the stairs, to Eda’s glee if the cackles were anything to go by.

“–We’ve got a lot of work to do, so~” she rubbed her hands together gleefully, “Who wants to go first?”

The twins began bickering lightly with each other as they raced up the steps, each arguing why they should be first and not the other. Lilith smiled as she heard them go, eventually walking sedately up behind them. If you had told her a mere month ago that this would be what her life would come to– playing hairdresser to three rich kids while living with her crazy sister and strange roommates –she would have thought you were possessed by a spirit with a weird sense of humor.

Crazier still, she found that she wouldn’t want it any other way.

* * *

The following school day, the Blight siblings caused a mild stir as all three strutted into Hexside with matching bronze locks. Although the change surprised everyone, save Luz– who promptly ran into several lockers at the sight of Amity still wearing her hair down –the siblings received nothing but compliments on their new looks.

And if Amity was grinning gleefully for the entire day, well, what’s so wrong about that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tfw you wake up to over a dozen comments on the work you just posted and are instantly inspired to write a second chapter apropos nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Credit/blame for this chapter goes to Camipretzel  
> Also; I recognize that Mrs. Blight's name is canonically "Odalia", but I'm keeping it as Karen in this fic.  
> Odalia is probably the Boiling Isles equivalent of Karen anyway. (:P)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: Changed Rowana's name to canonical Amelia.

Lilith Clawthorne had not been the youngest to join the illustrious Emperor's Coven, but her rise up the ranks was nothing short of meteoric and she made history by succeeding the previous leader and taking his place before she was even thirty; a first for any coven, nevermind the Emperor’s. She had been in command of hundreds of the finest witches and demons the Boiling Isles had to offer. Guards would snap to attention the second they registered her heels clicking down the hall.

She’d been respected.

She’d been _feared_.

And now–

“Thank you, enjoy your purchase.”

 _–Now_ she was working at her sister’s _unauthorized_ marketplace stand; selling weird human objects to anyone who gave their wares a second glance.

“Wow, sis,” Eda teased as Lilith dropped the snails from her sale into the register, “You almost sounded halfway enthusiastic during that last one. Admit it, the stand’s growing on you!”

“Oh shush. Much as I dislike working with you-”

“-For me,” Eda smirked.

“- _With you,”_ Lilith glared, “That’s no reason for me not to at least _try_ to do a decent job.” She made a face as an unkempt demon strolled by. “Even if this place could use a wash. Or six…”

“Is that why you’re rocking the hat and glasses today?” her sister asked, gesturing to the objects in question. “Is my dear older sister _embarrassed_ to work in a lowly stand amongst the commonfolk?”

 _“No,”_ Lilith denied, though her blush gave her away. “I’m wearing this, _Edalyn,_ because I’ve become one of the Emperor’s Coven’s most wanted, and I _don’t_ want to be recognized and deal with the guards when I’ve all but lost my powers!”

 _“Oh_ quit being such a worry-warlock,” Eda teased, picking up an object Luz referred to as a ‘Rubik’s Cube’ and began wiping off some dust. “I’ve been running this stand for years and have never been caught!”

“You were shackled in the town jail just a month ago. Remember? You swapped me with _a dog!”_ Lilith glared but her sister waved it off with a ‘tut’ and a finger waggle.

“That wasn’t me, that was Luz. She, King and I swapped bodies to settle a bet.”

Lilith could feel her eye twitch. “That explains so much and yet nothing at all.”

“My point, _Lilith,_ is that we’re fine! First of all, those Coven goons are an absolute joke and avoiding them is easier than distracting Hooty with a leaf.” Lilith opened her mouth to deny that claim, but her defense died in her throat as she really thought about the coven's "best and brightest"... Perhaps her climb to the top wasn’t nearly as bragworthy as previously thought…

“And second, if anyone was gonna bother us they would have done it already. I’m mean–” Eda snorted, “-have you _seen_ my bounty poster?”

“Eda, I _designed_ your bounty poster,” Lilith retorted, rubbing at a temple.

“You did? Well thanks for getting my hair right! _Last poster_ made me look like I had the hair of a gorgon! Though it did look fierce…”

“Why do I put up with you?” the elder witch asked wearily.

“Because you love me _and_ since you cursed me; _you owe me,”_ Eda grinned before tossing her rag onto her shoulder and clapping. “Speaking of which, chop chop, Clawthorne! If you’re going to live under my roof, you gotta help pay the bills, and _that means_ working for me at the stand!”

“ _Again,_ I’m working _with you,_ not _for you!”_ Lilith growled, though she did grab a rag and start cleaning off objects alongside her sister. “And for the record, I’m not entirely convinced you actually _pay_ bills!”

“Heh, you got me there!” Eda chuckled before her mood grew slightly somber. “But for real though; thank you. Since the portal’s gone my supply of stuff to sell is gonna eventually run out. I don’t think King and the kid have realized it yet, but I could really use a hand bringing in enough snails to put dragonbacon on the table.”

Lilith blinked, stunned at her sister’s seriousness, before she softly smiled at whatever-it-was she was holding.

“Of course I’m going to help, you doofus,” she knocked into Eda playfully, “What else am I good for?”

“Cleaning Hooty,” Eda smirked.

“Wha- _no!_ I cleaned him last time! It’s your turn!”

“Cur~sed,” Eda sang happily.

 _“Ugh,_ fine! But you can’t keep using that excuse forever!” Eda’s retort- which was along the lines of _‘oh yes I can’_ -was cut off by Luz sliding to a dusty halt in front of them, still wearing her school uniform.

“Hi Eda! Hi Lilith!” the teen happily chirped, slinging her bag off her shoulder.

“Hey kid,” Eda grinned, causing Lilith to smile at how happy her sister looked just by the arrival of her protege. “How was school; get into any trouble?”

“Nope!”

“Aw well, there’s always tomorrow,” Eda shrugged, grabbing another knickknack to dust.

“Nice hat, Lilith,” Luz said. She’d held onto her resentment for the witch for a while, but eventually decided enough was enough and started making strides to at least be _friendly_ with her. She _was_ Eda’s sister, after all.

“Tell her to take it off, Luz,” Eda quipped, cutting off Lilith’s reply to the compliment. “She’s worried about being recognized by the EC, and you and I both know how dumb they are.”

“She’s kinda right,” Luz shrugged apologetically. “I wore my school uniform in front of dozens of members at the castle, and I don’t think they’ve realized I actually _go_ to Hexisde yet. It’s been, like, _a month,_ and no one’s ever showed up at school looking for me.”

“Ha!” Eda cheered, pumping a fist. “Told ya so!” Lilith sighed and rolled her eyes at her sister’s gloating, but took the hat off.

“Fine, you win; the coven is full of nitwits,” she grumbled. “But I'm keeping the sunglasses!”

“You do wear them well,” Eda begrudgingly acknowledged before tuning back in to Luz gushing about what she’d done in school that day.

The teen was in the middle of complaining about her Oracle class– “I kept asking it the same question and it always gave me the wrong answer!” –when who should stroll up to the stand but Willow, Gus, and Amity.

“Hexsquad!” Luz cheered when she caught sight of them, doing her best to hug all three of them at once. Willow and Gus, used to it, did their best to hug back. Amity just did her best not to keel over from the unexpected contact.

“What brings you three around these parts?” Eda asked when Luz finally released them.

“Amity needed help finding your stall,” Gus stated, causing the witchling in question to blush slightly; though anyone would struggle to tell since she was still red from the group hug.

“Aw, I’m sorry Amity!” Luz winced, “If I’d known you wanted to visit the stand today I would have waited for you at school.” 

“No no, it’s fine,” Amity rushed to assure her, “I hadn’t planned on stopping by at all, but...something happened?”

“Well that’s vague,” Eda deadpanned.

“Everything alright?” Lilith asked.

“...Yes?” the bronze haired witchling shrugged, not sounding one hundred percent sure herself. “Well… I was waiting for Ed and Em so we could walk home…”

* * *

Amity had received nothing but compliments on her hair since she’d gotten it fixed a week prior. A lot of students had asked her which salon she’d had it done at, but she was always vague in her answer. The last thing she wanted was to bother Lilith– and by extension, _Luz –_ anymore than necessary, and she doubted the former coven leader turned outlaw wanted it known that she’d been playing hairdresser for a bunch of rich kids.

The witchling had been seated on the steps outside the Illusion track side of the building, waiting for her siblings, with Gus sitting beside her so that she wouldn’t wait alone. The two had been playing around, the young illusionist trying to perfectly mimic Amity’s abomination with his own illusion-raised version, when Willow and another student had shown up.

“Hi Amity! Hi Gus!” the plant witchling said as she made her way over to them.

“Hey, I remember you!” Gus called as he waved to the green-haired beside Willow. “You’re on Boscha’s grudgby team!”

“She’s also in my plant homeroom,” Willow cheerfully added as they drew to a halt in front of the stairs.

“Hey Amelia,” Amity nodded cordially to the tall and thin witchling. The two of them had never been the best of friends but at the very least they had been friend _-ly_ and Amity had enjoyed her company more than she had Boscha’s. Amelia wasn’t usually the type to trash talk and in a group that seemed to thrive on it, the newly bronzed witchling had appreciated the peace.

“Hi Amity,” Amelia said, seeming slightly nervous. “How’s your leg?”

“Good as new,” Amity smiled, knocking the knee of the limb in question. “Guess karma decided it was due payback for the last time I played grudgby, huh?” she joked self-mockingly, referring to how she’d hurt _Amelia_ _’s_ own leg in her final game as team captain.

“You’re not still hung up about that, are you?” Amelia frowned. “I told you it was fine, it was just a sprain! It’s grudgby! If you’re not willing to get hurt–”

“–Get your butt off the field,” Amity completed the old saying, though she still sulked. “Pretty sure that’s in reference to the field and the opposing team; _not_ because of your own teammates.”

“Ah, details, details,” the taller witchling grinned. “Point is that it’s all blood under the bridge.”

“...Thanks,” the bronze witchling smiled softly.

“...Buuuuut, if you _really_ wanted to make it up to me,” Amelia blushed, scratching the back of her head, “You could do me a favor?”

Amity sat up straight determinedly. “Name it.”

“You could convince Lilith to do my hair too?”

 _“What?!”_ Amity somehow almost fell off the stairs despite already being seated. “How did you know it was Lilith that did my hair?!”

“Willow told me,” Amelia pointed at the other plant witchling.

“Willow?! How did you know?”

“Gus told me.”

Amity glared at the young illusionist who smiled apologetically.

“Ed and Em told me in homeroom,” he shrugged sheepishly. “I didn’t know it was a secret!”

 _“Ugh,”_ the youngest Blight dragged her hand down her face. _“Apparently,_ neither did the twins.” Turning back to Amelia she said, “I can ask her, but I don’t know for sure if she’ll do it. What do you want done anyway?”

“Well–”

* * *

“She wants an undercut?” Lilith questioned, brows raised in confusion. “She wants _me_ to _give her_ an undercut?”

“She says her parents are really old fashioned when it comes to, well, fashion,” Amity shrugged. “She managed to wear a suit to Grom, but her parents flipped when they found out. She wants to do something more, but they went the same route as my mom and told all the salons not to do anything.”

“Alright, seriously,” Luz groused, “What is with the rich parents of the Isles sucking so much?!”

“It’s all that fancy water they drink,” Eda drolled, boredly wiping down the counter. “Degrades the part of their brain where decency lives.”

“That’s funny coming from someone who picked three separate pockets on the way to open the stand this morning,” Lilith deadpanned at her sister.

“See~a~pocket, pick~a~pocket!” her sister grinned before turning back to the ‘Hexsquad’. “Sorry shorty, but Lily’s too busy working the stand for me to cut some teenager’s hair.”

_“I don’t work for–”_

“She said she would pay,” Amity stated, before her face pinched. “And I’m not short!”

“And a spot in my schedule just opened up!” Eda grinned, snail signs flashing in her eyes. “Tell the kid she can stop by here tomorrow and I’ll cut her hair for five- no, ten snails!”

“Wha-what do you mean _you’ll_ cut it?” Lilith asked. “Since when do you know how to cut hair?”

“What, it’s not that hard,” Eda bragged. “I’ve been doing King’s fur for years, and Luz’s since she got here. Poor kid’s hair is even thicker than mine, and has, like, _eight_ different cowlicks to deal with.”

“I get little horns if my hair gets too long,” Luz beamed. _“Me gusta,_ but it’s too hot to have my hair any longer than this.”

“So doing an under-whatever shouldn’t be a problem. Worse case scenario, it all grows back anyway,” Eda explained before leaning closer so only Lilith could hear. “Plus we could use all the extra income we can get.” The older Clawthorne sighed heavily before turning back to the kids.

“Very well then, we’ll do– Amelia, was it? We’ll do her hair.”

“Bring the kid here tomorrow at lunch–”

“–She _means,”_ Lilith glared, “Bring her _after_ school. Since school is an important thing which shouldn’t be missed.”

“You say that as if either of us actually ‘finished’ school.”

 _“I_ joined the– _a coven;_ which is a perfectly legitimate reason to not officially finish school.”

“Whereas as _I_ took the much cooler route and just straight up quit,” Eda gloated proudly, causing Lilith to rub her own temple again.

 _“Please_ don’t teach them that quitting school is ‘cool’.”

“It is when said school system acts as a funnel for a corrupt system!”

“SO,” Amity yelled, getting the (correct) feeling this discussion would last for a while if not interrupted. “I’ll bring Amelia back to this spot?”

“Yup,” Eda grinned, her rant against the system momentarily forgotten. “We’ll be somewhere in this area tomorrow. Now; can someone explain what an undercut is?”

“Oh my Titan…” Lilith groaned, regretting everything already.

* * *

“Thanks again for getting them to do this, Amity,” Amelia smiled as she, Amity, and Luz wound their way through the edges of the marketplace.

“It honestly didn’t take as much convincing as I thought,” the bronze witchling replied.

“Are you just going to get your hair cut, or are you going to get it dyed as well?” Luz asked, casually skipping along and unintentionally making Amity’s heart skip slightly in the process.

“Hmm,” the tall witchling thought, pursing her lips. “I think just the cut for now. I’ve actually never thought about dyeing my hair before. Not even sure what color I’d make it…”

“I think you’d look good in purple!” Luz grinned.

“Purple?”

“I could see that,” Amity agreed, avoiding staring directly at Luz’s grin lest she blushes hard. Again. “A nice violet, maybe with dark undertones.”

“Oooh, yeah!”

“Maybe next time,” Amelia chuckled. She glanced at the various stalls around them. “How much farther until we reach the stand?”

“Should be just around the corner,” Luz supplied happily. “Lilith and Eda left early to make sure they got a primo- _whoa.”_ The three of them drew to a halt as they caught sight of Eda’s Human Collectibles stand.

At least, what _used_ to be the Human Collectibles stand.

The counter had been moved over to one side of the tent– where Eda apparently still intended to sell her human paraphernalia –but the tent itself was now wide open, showing off a cleaned up interior with a few chairs, a vanity with a large mirror, a table holding scissors, shears, combs and the like, and a place for someone to get their hair washed. No two pieces of furniture were alike, but it all looked surprisingly clean and functional.

The main sign was still up, but beneath it now hung another so that it all now read–

“Human Collectibles & Bad Girl Cuts? Really?” Amity asked, eyeing the new sign questionably. _“That’s_ the name they’re going with?”

“Please believe me when I say that _that_ was the least offensive of the names my sister came up with,” Lilith deadpanned as she spotted them from where she stood behind the knickknack counter.

“I didn’t hear you come up with any suggestions, Lily,” Eda snarked as she exited the tent.

“I _did_ come up with suggestions,” Lilith shot back. _“You_ decided they weren’t ‘up to snuff’!” She mocked, doing an half-decent impersonation of her sister.

“And I was right,” Eda grinned before turning her back on her now peeved sibling and greeting the students. “Welcome to the grand opening of Bad Girl Cuts!” She exclaimed, throwing her hands out wide for effect. “How can we cut you today?”

“Ehhhh! _Nope!_ Stopping that slogan right there!” Lilith growled.

“Yeah, I heard it as soon as I said it, but it’s too late now; I’m rolling with it!”

“Oh, Titan help me…” Lilith groaned, smacking her head against the counter.

“...It’s not too late to change your mind,” Amity quietly stated to a slightly stunned Amelia.

“...No, no,” the tall witchling shook her head before standing straight with determination. “I’ve made it this far, no point in backing out now!” 

“Yeah! Don’t worry, Amity,” Luz assured the brown-haired witchling, patting her on the shoulder. “I’m sure things will turn out just fine. Probably!” The human grinned confidently, not noticing that Amity had stopped listening the second Luz had touched her, too focused on _not_ freaking and acting like a fool.

“Alright, enough chit chat!” Eda declared. “You’re Amelia, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Pft– _ma’am,”_ Lilith chuckled from her place at the counter, still face down.

“Hush you!” Eda snapped, before turning back with an _attempt_ at a honey-sweet smile. “I’m Eda the Owl Lady, and I’ll be cutting your hair today! Come on in!” She spun on her heel and marched into the tent. “Let’s get this show on the road!”

Amelia walked– more than a little nervously –into the newly made “salon”, Lilith perking up as she passed.

“Eda, shouldn’t we wash her hair first? As short as you’re going to cut it, the bits are going to fly everywhere if we don’t wet it first.”

“Ooh, good point. Where’s the bucket?” Eda called back from inside the tent.

“Wha- _bucket?!”_ Lilith blanched before darting into the tent. “Nope! Not happening! Just- stand over there and I’ll pass her to you when _I_ am done washing her hair.”

“Meh, if you say so. Just seems unnecessarily complicated to me.”

Luz and Amity stared into the tent concerningly.

“We’re...We’re going to keep an eye on them, right?” Amity worried.

“I mean,” Luz scratched the back of her head with a sheepish grin, “It wouldn’t hurt, right?”

_“Edalyn Clawthorne, you back away from that hedge trimmer right now!”_

The two shared a glance before darting into the tent; both to make sure that the sister’s didn’t kill each other and that poor Amelia didn’t get caught in the crossfire.

* * *

A very long forty-five minutes later– during which there was only _one_ fire that needed to be put out –Eda spun Amelia around to face the mirror to check out her handiwork.

“Ta-da! One undercut!”

The tall witchling gasped loudly before grinning wildly, twisting her head back and forth to see the results. The sides and back had been sheared down to a fine and even length, while the top was left long in the back so it could be combed forward to the bangs that were now short enough to stand up, forming a sort of conical poof.

“It’s perfect!” Amelia squealed. “Thank you so much!”

“Ten snails please! Plus tip!”

“Eda, I don’t think you’re supposed to ask for a tip,” Lilith chided as she swept up the hair littering the floor.

“Here’s fifteen and you can keep the change,” the witchling beamed as she handed Eda the snails and all but launched herself out of the chair to stand in front of Luz and Amity who’d been seated nearby. “What do you think?”

“It looks great, Amelia,” Amity smiled genuinely.

“Yeah, Eda did a great job! You look super sharp!” Luz gushed.

“Of course she does, kid,” Eda gloated as she leaned against the back of the chair. “She got her hair done by yours truly!”

“She says as if she’s been a professional for years,” Lilith deadpanned, dumping the hair into a bin.

“How do you think your parents are going to react when they see you?” Amity asked, slightly nervous for the tall witchling.

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Probably freak a little, but in the end there’s nothing they can do so they’ll just grumble and ground me for a week or something,” Amelia mused. “How did yours react when they saw you were a brunette?”

“Honestly? Father didn’t care, but Mother…” Amity scratched the back of her head. “Mother was _far_ from pleased.”

“Did you get in trouble?” Luz asked, momentarily distracting the bronze witchling with her big, concern-filled eyes.

“N-no. Ed and Em made a big fuss about how good we looked and all the compliments we’d gotten at school already– they’d been out of town for a meeting when the twins got theirs done.” Amity smiled softly at the memory of her siblings standing between her and their mother. “In the end she couldn’t get a word in edgewise without losing face, so we got away with it.”

“Ah, I love the sound of rebellion in the morning!” Eda grinned as she lounged against the counter.

“It’s nearly five in the afternoon,” Lilith drolled, knocking her sister aside with her hip.

“Ooh! That means it’s time for Mama’s Night Juice!”

“...you are a very questionable role model,” the elder Clawthorne facepalmed.

“Huh, that doesn’t sound half bad,” Luz mumbled in thought.

“See?!” Lilith gestured to the teen as she glared at her sister.

“Atta’girl, Luz!” Eda beamed.

“Wha-no! Not _that!”_ Luz explained. “I meant the rebellion part. As in ‘Rebellion Haircuts’.”

“Ooh,” Amity smiled, “I like that.”

“Because it’s a good name– which it is – _or_ because Luz suggested it?” Amelia teased, causing Amity to turn red and sputter indignantly.

“Rebellion Haircuts,” Lilith said, trying it out.

“Huh, that ain’t half bad, kid!” Eda grinned proudly.

“We’ll have to change the sign.”

“Eh, we’ll just get King and Luz to do it.”

“Yes! Arts and crafts!” Luz squealed.

“Hey, is it alright if I tell my friends about you guys?” Amelia asked the two witches. Eda caught her sister’s eye, the two of them holding an entire conversation.

“This was kinda fun…” Lilith eventually shrugged with a small smile. “Even the part where you set the tent on fire.”

“It was just the corner and the kids had it out quickly enough,” Eda defended before turning back to Amelia. “Tell whoever you’d like, kid. We’ll do the hair of anyone no matter what their parents say!”

“Sweet!” Amelia squealed before summoning her scroll for a selfie to show off her new do. Angling to get the Clawthornes in frame she said, “Say _banshee!”_

“Banshee!” Eda and Lilith smiled in reflex.

Satisfied with the photo, Amelia wasted no time in posting it to her penstagram account, tagging it [Got my fierce new look from Rebellion Haircuts in the Market! HMU if you want their ‘fo!]

“Thanks again! Bye!” Grin a mile wide, the witchling all but skipped away, leaving the four of them behind.

“Well that’s one way to get business,” Amity commented.

“Think anyone will see her post?” Luz asked.

“Well, she has a _lot_ of followers, so I’d say it’s a safe bet.”

“How much is a lot?” Lilith wondered.

Amity looked up in thought as she tried to remember. “I think she just hit twenty thousand?”

“Twenty– that _beanpole?!”_ Eda gasped.

“Edalyn, don’t be rude.” Lilith chastised her sister. “...Ok, but seriously, how?!”

“She makes a lot of videos of herself carving into soap blocks,” Amity shrugged.

“Ah,” Luz crossed her arms and nodded sagely. “ASMR.”

“...Titan bless you?” the witchling said, confused.

“At any rate!” Eda grinned, clapping her hands together. “I’m starving so let’s break this down and scram before the cops show up.”

“Why would the cops show up?” Amity asked, concerned.

“I don’t know,” Eda shrugged as she began stuffing things into a sack. “They just always seem to show up for some reason.”

“Could that reason, may, _possibly_ , be the fact that you are one of _the most_ wanted people in the Boiling Isles?!” Lilith griped as she helped Eda close the stand.

“See, you say that, but Warden Wrath mostly chases me cause he has the hots for me.”

“No he doesn’t–”

“Yes he does,” Luz interjected. “He asked Eda out– _right_ after cutting off her head!”

“Wha- seriously?” Amity balked. “He thought she’d say yes after that?”

“Yes! It was _very_ disturbing,” Luz blanched at the memory.

“When was this?!” Lilith asked, racking her brain. Surely she would have heard about it if Wrath had been close enough to her sister to decapitate her?

“When we caused the prison riot at the Conformitorium,” Luz happily answered.

“That was you?!” Lilith screeched.

“Welp, time to go! See you at home kid!” Bag of stuff hoisted over one shoulder like a bandit or deranged Santa Claus, Eda bolted away from the group, her sister hot on her heels.

“Edalyn Clawthorne, you get back here right now and tell me what in Titan’s name you were doing causing a _riot!”_

Amity and Luz watched them dash through the crowds like a couple of five year olds.

“...How long do you think it will take for them to burn the stand to the ground?” Amity asked, half seriously.

“I _would_ say a while since both of their powers are depleted,” Luz responded, staring after the two as they somehow managed to topple a cart filled with produce, much to the owner’s ire. “Buuuut Eda _did_ manage to set the tent on fire using a pair of scissors and a _wet_ comb, soooo…”

“...About a month?”

A small explosion sounded off in the direction the sisters had run.

“Give or take.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Camipretzel: "And that's the story about how Lilith opened up her hair salon for rich kids with asshole parents😃🤣🤣🤣🤣 if your mom bothered her or her sister in highschool she'll do it for free🤣🤣🤣  
> But seriously I LOVED IT"

**Author's Note:**

> Did I have Lilith prefer to use "physical" methods of dyeing her hair just because I know she currently can't use magic well? Yes, yes I did.
> 
> 10pts to whomever spots the Atlantis reference.
> 
> https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOwlHouse/comments/ill21i/hooty_hooty_im_dana_terrace_creator_and_ep_of_the/


End file.
